Michael Sherlock explains the main concept of his book, I Am Christ, in an interview posted on YouTube:

INTERVIEWER: What is the process of I Am Christ? How does that lead to humility...?

SHERLOCK: It causes you to recognize your own beliefs for what they are—and that is, they’re just beliefs. They’re my personal roadmap to reality, but I’m not going to confuse the map with the actual territory that that map surveys anymore. I’m going to realize it’s just a map. It’s my map. And I’m not going to try and impose my map on others, and I’m going to let other people write their own maps, as well….

The trouble with religions like Christianity is they spread with the belief that the missionary, or whoever spreading the belief, has the correct belief, and all others should conform with their belief—my God, my religion, my belief. This is egocentrism.... What’s the result of egocentrism in an ever-shrinking world where belief systems are coming into conflict with each other?... Can someone say, okay well, I’ll be the first one to say that my beliefs are just that—they’re beliefs. So I’m not going to go and kill anyone, I’m not going to be so certain of my beliefs anymore and mistake them as truths. I’m going to realize that I need to suffer the cognitive crucifixion—that is, the psychological crucifixion—of considering the possibility that my beliefs are just that: beliefs….

INTERVIEWER: You put it so nicely, you put it so openly. It really is a way of uniting every human being. I mean, if people adopt what you preach here as a religion, it would be, in a sense, the unification of all religion into a single human quest for the truth, and that seems like such a noble virtue.

Here are a few things to think through as you respond to this video in the comments below: 1) What is the unspoken (in this section) premise behind his plea for you to see your beliefs as “just beliefs”? 2) What is the problem he’s hoping to fix? 3) Will his solution solve the problem? 4) What alternative does Christianity offer for solving the problem? 5) Can you identify the root disagreement you have with Sherlock and/or the interviewer that ought to be addressed first? 6) What are the biggest mistakes being made by both Sherlock and the interviewer?

Give us your thoughts below, and Alan will have a video response to this on Thursday.